An often overlooked but fundamentally important part of bike riding at any level is tyre choice. Nowhere is tyre choice more important than on the cobbles and the pros have the luxury of riding tubular tyres, which have a couple of advantages over clinchers when it comes to racing on the cobbles.

Firstly tubs, by the nature of their construction, are far harder to pinch flat than clinchers (although it is possible; the idea that tubs can’t be pinch flatted is misleading). And that means they can be run at far lower pressures than clinchers without the worry of a pinch flat. That’s a big bonus on the cobbles as it means you can soften the ride a little.

But, as with everything, it’s a compromise because you need to have the correct balance between low enough pressure for comfort and high enough pressure to optimise rolling resistance. Plus if you drop the pressure too low, you’ll risk slamming the rim into the pavé if you hit the wrong cobble too hard which, in the worst-case scenario, could write the wheel off.

Wider for Roubaix

The next factor is tyre width. At Flanders you’ll likely see 25, 26 and even 27mm tyres being used by most riders. Because the majority of the cobbles on the course are found on the hills, they’re slightly more forgiving than those in Roubaix because you can’t ride over them as quickly. Perhaps more significantly, the Flandrian cobbles are, for the most part, much more uniform as they’re used by cars almost every day because they’re public roads and, as a result, are far better maintained – although anyone who has ridden the Koppenberg may disagree. The Roubaix cobbles, on the other hand, tend to be used far less frequently and, at points, bear no semblance to any sense of uniformity, which led Chris Horner to memorably liken the Roubaix course to dropping cobblestones onto a dirt road from a helicopter.

So while most riders will choose a 25mm tyre at Flanders, you’ll rarely see anything less than 27mm at Roubaix, and even up to a 30mm on certain bikes. As we’ve already mentioned, back in the day there used to be a lot more cyclo-cross bikes used at Roubaix but these days it’s pretty rare as tyre clearance has got more generous (last year Ridley, Europcar and Ag2r all gave their riders the option of ‘cross bikes).

Under pressure

But it’s not enough just having big tyres. You have to run them at the correct pressure. In Flanders you won’t have to drop the pressure too far to make things tolerable (we rode there last year with 27mm tyres and 90psi on a Trek Domane, and had no issues with comfort at all), but even the pros will go right down to between 70-80psi when it comes to traversing the pavé of Roubaix.

Plus, some teams will run their tubulars with tubeless sealant in. Which particular sealant is best is still very much up for debate, but quality sealant will keep you going with very little pressure loss when your tyre gets a small hole.

Tyre pressure is absolutely critical at Paris-Roubaix, with riders seeking to strike the perfect balance between rolling resistance, comfort and grip, so the exact pressure used by each team is a closely guarded secret. Ask any mechanic and they’ll remain tight-lipped.

In terms of wheels, most teams won’t make a change from the carbon hoops they usually ride, but there will always be a few riders who prefer old-school box section aluminium rims for whatever reason, be that reluctance to use carbon rims on the pavé or the fact that box section rims can be built using more spokes to increase the strength and/or stiffness of the wheel.